In Response To: Halo 2 Zombies Games, and bringing them back (BolognaFire)
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GT = bluerunner
: If you could look back at my past Halo 2 custom games (under my old GT
: thePheonix9), you would see that almost half of all custom games were
: Zombies on Foundation. I loved that game type. There were so many
: different ways to play it, there was suspense, and there was fear
: (watching a teammate struggle to crouch jump back into the base as the
: zombies strike him down). In Halo 3, one of my first goals was to recreate
: that game as best as I could.
: My first thought was to barricade one of the underground rooms on Isolation,
: but after the Living Dead playlist's zombie games on The Pit, I realized
: the Ops Center (or sword room) was almost identical to Room 2 from
: Foundation. Seeing this, I began planning out how I would create that same
: experience from Halo 2.
: I had a few issues though. For one, with Halo 3's physics engine, you can't
: melee a barricade into or out of place. Also, since zombies do not carry
: magnums any more, there was no way for you to refill your ammo as you held
: out in your base. Another problem was that I couldn't spawn a gauss
: warthog on the Pit. I used to place one on Foundation or Backwash in case
: the humans needed a quick way to get from one point to another, but had an
: honor rule that it couldn't be brought into the base.
: To solve these issues, I tried what is possibly my favorite feature in the
: Forge, timed spawns. To replace that rush to move items into the opening
: to the base to create a barricade, I set different pieces of scenery to
: spawn at preset times and create a progressively stronger barricade.
: However, just like in Halo 2, this barricade would not be invincible, but
: I'll get to that later. To solve the problem of losing magnum ammo, I
: recreated the scattered dropped magnums outside of the barricade (those
: that the zombies would drop after being killed) by setting timed spawns of
: magnums right where the zombies will try and get into the room. The
: magnums do not spawn until 30 seconds into the game, which is about 10
: seconds after the first zombie arrives at the base. You can dual wield
: your magnums, but just like in Halo 2, you have to risk your neck to get
: that second gun. Finally, to replace the gauss warthog, I set four
: mongooses to respawn every 2 minutes in the center of the map (they do
: spawn at the beginning though). I was worried that people could just
: endlessly drive the mongoose around as zombies tried to cut them off, so I
: placed a few crates and barricades around the level, not only to provide
: alternate bases (ala, Room 1, 3, or 4, which were never as effective as
: Room 2, but still did the job of keeping you far enough from the zombie),
: but to keep the mongoose at a far speed.
: I don't think I described it so well, so I took a few screenshots to help
: demonstrate.
: Here is the base at the start of the game. No barricades have spawned yet.
:
: After 20 seconds, a weak barricade of roadblocks and one generator spawn.
:
: After 90 seconds, a barricade spawns atop these roadblocks and it becomes
: harder to enter the base. At 180 seconds, another barricade spawns as well
: as a pallet. This is the barricade in its strongest form. Even now,
: zombies can still destroy the pallet and jump in through that side, in the
: same way there was typically a weak spot in the barricade at Room 2, and
: zombies can still crouch jump over the entire barricade with good timing.
:
: Although the barricade may be strong, there are propane tanks set right
: outside of the it that will spawn at 60 seconds into the game (another
: pair spawn right in the barricade at 180 seconds, these can be set off by
: a chain reaction of propane tanks). These replace the fusion coils that
: zombies would roll to Room 2 in the hopes of destroying the barricade. I
: tried using fusion coils instead, but they were too weak to do any real
: damage to the barricade. Also, their explosions killed shieldless humans
: and zombies too often.
:
: Here you can see the spawn point for the four mongooses.
:
: These are the barricades that are set around the map. They are symmetrical
: and never respawn. Grav lifts are also strategically placed to allow
: easier access into the Ops Center as the ramps proved to be too slow. The
: grav lifts will respawn instantly if destroyed.
:
: Humans and zombies should spawn on opposite ends of the map so a trek to the
: base must be made in the same way it was in Halo 2. Occasionally, a human
: spawns too close to a zombie, but that only happens in big parties and it
: helps the game move along. 15 vs 1 isn't very fun.
:
:
: To go with this map, I made a variation of Infection that mimics Halo 2
: Zombies as best as I could make it. Humans are the color red and zombies
: are green. Humans spawn with a shotgun and a magnum, zombies with a sword.
: Zombies have infinite ammo and can not pick anything up or drive vehicles.
: There are no grenades on the map and neither humans or zombies spawn with
: them. Like in Halo 2, both humans and zombies are shieldless. Team killing
: is also off because you don't accidentally shoot someone with a shotgun
: (unless you're Stuntmutt. I kid, I've never played the King of Corn, but
: from the stories I've heard, I wouldn't let him near the rockets if he was
: on my team). I've also set weapons on map as map default instead of
: shotguns so that the magnums will spawn. Two shotguns do spawn inside of
: the base every 30 seconds.
: Now to put this wall of a thread to rest, here are the links if you're
: interested in trying the map or game type, thanks that need to be given
: out, and some cool pictures :D.
: If you would like to try the map "Room 2" or the game type
: "Zombies-Room 2, the link to my file share is here . The map is in
: the first slot in my file share and the game type is in the second.
: Next, I need to thank all of the people who played Zombies with me in Halo 2.
: Noskillz, Srgnt Sprinkles, and Deadeye Inc are just a few of the dozens of
: friends I've made over Live who've been playing shenanigans filled games
: with me since last December.
: I also have to thank Kapowaz for introducing me to Flickr in one of his
: earlier threads. No longer will I clutter a page with 800x600 images, but
: thumbnails shall keep things readable and keep your scroll fingers safe.
: Thanks also to Ar-Isildur of *WP*, who's HTML guide allows me to hide my lack
: of HTML skillz from the intrewebz whenever hyperlinking is needed.
: Also, a big thanks to Bungie for the Forge which made this all possible.
: Ok, now, cool pictures... also, I lied about your scroll finger.
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